Message from Head of the Department

Department of Microbiology of Dhaka Shishu Hospital began its journey in 1983 with only a pressure cooker and a few petri plates on a small table, at the corridor of the department of Pathology. Since its inception, the department took initiative to build its diagnostic capacity and do much more. As dreamt by the founders of the hospital, the Microbiology department has always been wholeheartedly interested in research, besides providing diagnostic services to the patients of the hospital.

From the very beginning, the department has been playing a proactive role in establishing a strong relationship with the clinical colleagues, with the aim to customize the work of the department according to the need of the clinicians and offer better services for the patients.

Schemes and ideas of Department of Microbiology did the amazing job of bringing the diverse groups of colleagues of the administration, pediatric departments and laboratory personnel close together and forming a 'zone of performance'. This is inevitably helping the department to perform better in both the sectors: patient service and research.

By gradual expansion and capacity building, the department has emerged itself as a "state of the art" facility of international reputation, in only around a couple of decades. The research findings of this laboratory are published in various reputed international journals. The department now proudly participates in several global policy matters in the field of treatment and prevention of pneumonia, meningitis and typhoid. It must be mentioned that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) made and televised a document based on this laboratory's work in the field of Hib meningitis.

The department has mentored several graduates. Most of them are now working in different parts of the world for their doctoral or postdoctoral degrees. Some of them are already back here, at the department, after specialised training in renowned institutions across the world. In addition, the laboratory is enthusiastically contributing in the capacity building of other microbiology laboratories of the leading medical colleges and hospitals of Bangladesh, and working as the reference centre for the surveillance on invasive pneumococcal diseases.

Most of the resources of the department of microbiology have been pulled together by itself,. In addition to that department also intents to gather resources for the hospital, and thus facilitates the use of the hospital's limited resources for other priorities like serving the poor children.

However, this massive development from a small table to a huge laboratory with the latest technologies at finger tips would not be possible without the generous support from the hospital authority, friends in the society and research collaborators at home and abroad. Collaborators of this department include World Health Organization, Nagasaki University, Johns Hopkins University, Wellcome Trust, Oxford University, Centre for Disease Control (CDC), ICDDR,B, PneumoADIP, Hib Initiative, GlaxoSmithKline etc.

The department has the potential to take the leadership in the field of pediatric infectious diseases, if the "zone of performance" remains intact, as it is now.